The substance of this book is very good, if too wordy. There is no doubt that the authors have a firm grasp of their subject; now they just need to be concise in discussing it. As stated in the book, the book is designed for readers who have a basic familiarity with BizTalk -- however note that readers are expected to be familiar with MS operating systems and some scripting and programming languages. Not having this knowledge will make this book difficult to follow, especially in the examples.

Since the advent of the spell checker, no one proofreads any more. The book is rampant with errors. For example, the text will state that five parameters are required, then list six. In one case the publishing tool boldly inserts "ERROR! Reference source not found" when the text references a figure... Still, I'll give it high recommendations for content.

As a developer, I bought BizTalk Unleashed to evaluate the capabilities of BizTalk Server 2002. Specifically, I looked at how it can be used in EDI transaction processing and how to use .NET (VB.NET/C#) and I was impressed because the book has excellent examples, from general overview to step-by-step guide, on how to use every tools and technologies that BizTalk has to offer. Most importantly, the examples on how to use .NET (VB.Net/C#/) in developing COM+/COM/Web Sevices is very valuable. Not only they are valuable, all the examples I tried just worked which in itself saved me from frustrations!

I must say that with this book, I clearly discovered many great capabilities of BizTalk and I am confident that I can accomplish anything that involves BizTalk using BizTalk Unleashed!

By the way, the review just reflects my satisfaction of the book.

The book is a really good view about secure servers and technology, but it lacks a business view about electronic commerce. In fact electronic commerce is more about business than technology but this book is a very good start. The discussion about electronic payment solutions is very good.

I bought this particular book because I needed information on electronic commerce and indeed it did cover all relevant topics on electronic commerce and much much more

Although most of this book consists of scenarios where you say "well of course...", they are excellent, focused examples of the points made. I wish the title were different; I can't imaging handing this to someone and saying "here, you should read this". But most IT people should!
Great book, easy to read.

To Dan & Alan.
I wanted to thank you for writing such a good book. Now I understand that I am not the only techie who has to experience these frustrations, and that makes me feel a little better, but I will feel even better when I have implemented the teachings in the second half of the book.

I loved the title! The title of the book caught my eye, because I had heard about a book titled "business at the speed of light(?)", and being a bit of a rebel, I laughed when I read the title and thought "that's the truth". After a few scans of various pages, I wanted to buy it. And I am not disappointed yet.
I would not feel stupid telling someone to read this book based on it's title, and if you do, then you may need to get out the environment you are currently in. Everyone needs to lighten up a lot. That theme is illustrated several times in this book.

Dan & Alan, please send me an email when your site is revised (ExecuThought.com), I would like to find other tech people to converse with about your thoughts and lessons in this book, and I think your online dicussion board would be an excellent place to do it.

Again thanks for the book, I haven't enjoyed reading a "business" book like this since reading the "E-myth revisited". Each chapter is a comedy, adventure and tragedy wrapped in a valuable lesson.

This book offers a detailed, and sometimes humorous profile of the driving force behind the New Economy. In some respects, this book is inspiring in its take-no-prisoners approach to ambition and success.

However, in as much as it glorifies the dress-down, work-till-you-drop, super ambitious types who drive the New Economy, the author never asks the critical questions of cost. Nickles describes people postponing weddings, having no time for friends or romance. These are people who practically live in their offices because a home is not condusive to the frenetic pace of e-commerce. I admire the ambition and innovation of the Change Agents, but I'm not sure I want to see these people thirty years from now.

Apparently Ms. Nickles (who I assume didn't go through such a lifestyle) finds none of this disturbing.

A fascinating read about today's internet driven world and the young turks behind the wheel. I thought the book might be a bit too statistical, but it was not at all. Nickles explains the behavior and psychology of the new technology-fluent generation and their far-reaching influences, from traditional corporate environments to culture changing dot coms like wedding planners and on-line magazines. A lot of intellegence gathering research went into the book, but it is presented in an enjoyable, anecdotal fashion.

The changes in retailing which have taken place in L.A. which are examined in this book have occured throughout the United States and are taking place throughout the world right noe. The population shift to the suburbs and shopping in regional malls.

This has caused the value of retail space to decline in many area of America.

If you ever wanted to know about the history of Los Angeles and how it became a large metropolitian area, this is the book for you. Hundreds of pictures from the late 1800's to the 1950's makes this book a very resourceful tool.

Passed CIW exam 1D0-420 & 1D0-425 scoring 90% for each.
I found the book very easy to read & a concise Study Guide (at times maybe TOO concise). The Site Design-Part 1, covered all the exam objectives with good explanations. However I felt that the E-Commerce - Part II, fell short of covering 2 aspects of the exam objectives, namely Catelog Design & relating OPI-OBI standards.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone striving to pass the above CIW exams.

A very concise must have book that condenses the material down into what you really need to know to obtain high CIW grades. It helped me pass the Site Designer exam with a 93 and E-Commerce with an 83. The Assessment Test at the beginning of the book gave me a very accurate look at what I needed to concentrate on but I read every page too. Especially helpful were the chapter summaries, exam essentials, and key terms at the end of every chapter which exactly pinpointed what I needed to learn. Also, the questions with answers at the end of every chapter were very exam like and perfect for practice exams when not near a computer. I took the book everywhere. But I also spent many hours with their Sybex EdgeTest Engine on the included CD simulating the exam until my scores were passing. I tried out the included flashcard feature, too, but much preferred the multiple choice format. Since this is their first edition, it does have some typos and a few questions with errors but they were very easy to spot and fix. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and to Amazon.

well

not only does this book look like its for kids but it is .... well in a way... what I mean is it can be uesed by almost all ages... it's worth checking out.

I bought this book from Amazon a while back. This book was one of the best investments I could have made. It is jam packed FULL of USEFUL information. You will NOT be sorry you bought this book.

Karl has put everything you need to know to break into this field into one book. All I can say is BUY it.

By no means dry, the book has a colorful way of exploring topics and then moving on before they have a chance to settle. I suppose this is the author's style and as a consultant one should be good at asking questions and most importantly asking the right ones. In many ways this is the books greatest strength as the author draws on real life examples and then poses questions for further thought. However, the open-ended approach to this all is IMHO the books biggest weakness as the author ends up asking more questions then he seems able to answer. He explains in the afterward that the book is a result of many disjointed notes and their eventual refinement which makes sense because I found no closure upon completing the last chapter. I asked myself what was the point of the book and realized it is what it is: a survey of business and IT, ala Stewart Brand, Gregory Bateson (two highly respected cyberneticists) and others with the resultant hodgepodge of systems theory.

In short I would not recommend this book for people looking for a practical hands-on approach to their business and IT. However, I would recommend it for anyone who likes "philosophising" about business and IT systems as the author has a very good knack at making the mundane exciting and vivid. Bringing software maintenance to the same calibre as development (he argues effectively rarely does pure development exist) was the most important thing I took away, though "great minds think alike" may be just another cliche.

This is a must read for business people interested the competitive moves opened up by business components. It is irreverent, witty, fun. It deals with how to spot the components that will win, not this or that technology. It reclaims the streets from the corporate hype about who owns the market.

I've read a few books on Internet marketing and this isn't the best -- but it's near the top of the list. You fall upon good ideas, like allowing salespeople to create personalized Web pages for business customers and a privacy manager that gives users control over tracking. Other interesting information includes how to manage sales leads with automated e-mail personalization and screen savers that drive Web traffic. Chapter 13 on the future is "out there" yet interesting.

This is the best book on the Internet and electronic marketing I have ever read.

"Congo-Paris" is a fine example of the recent trend in anthropology away from the localized study of communities and towards analysis that transcends geographic boundaries. Not that this study is "multi-sited" (to use the dominant buzzword): MacGaffey and Bazenguissa conducted their fieldwork for the book entirely in Paris, interviewing dozens of subjects from both Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa. But Paris is just one venue in these transnational subjects' life histories as they range back and forth across national, legal, commercial, and cultural frontiers.

While the authors set out to validate the Congolese quest for relief from political and economic hardship at home, the image they present of this loosely-defined community of traders will do nothing for its image abroad. These individuals define themselves through the act of quietly circumventing the rules (particularly import duties and immigration laws), resisting governmental authority without manifesting any visible signs of dissent. This is understandable, given the corrupt and authoritarian Congolese regimes of recent decades. But the transnational traders' ethos of stealthy noncompliance extends to their overseas existence as well, with the result in these Parisian cases being a gamut of criminal activity from smuggling and apartment squatting to drug dealing and theft. "Model immigrants" they are not, regardless of whether their behavior represents a survival strategy. One wonders just how representative this underworld is of the larger community of Congolese living in Paris, and whether those Congolese living more lawful existences there object to being tarred with this brush of illegality.

Such moral qualms aside, I give "Congo-Paris" high marks for its thorough and penetrating analysis of its subjects, a very difficult group to interview given its members' legal status and clandestine activities. No doubt its success owes much to the collaboration between MacGaffey (British) and Bazenguissa (Congolese). The book also skillfully negotiates the difficult and shifting theoretical territory of anthropology to bring outside perspectives to bear on its subjects. Finally, it makes a strong case for redefining anthropology in the context of ongoing processes of globalization. I suspect that we will be seeing a good many more studies like this one in the future.

Congo-Paris: Transnational Traders on the Margins of the Law is about globalization as practiced by Congolese traders who operate a thriving second economy linking Central Africa and Europe. She investigates the transnational trade between Central Africa and Europe by focusing on the lives of individual traders from Kinshasa and Brazzaville, who operate across national frontiers and often outside the law. Challenging the boundaries of anthropology, Janet MacGaffey follows complex international networks to examine the ways in which the African second economy has been extended transnationally and globally on the margins of the law. Who are these traders? What strategies do they have, not only to survive but also to shine? What kinds of networks do they rely on? What implications does their trade have for the study of globalization? The personal networks of ethnicity, kinship, religion, and friendship constructed by the traders fashion a world of their own. From Johannesburg to Cairo and from Dakar to Nairobi as well as in Paris, the Congolese traders are renowned and envied. This lively book shows that it is not just the multinationals that benefit from jets and mobile phones.